What does it really mean to say Jesus’ life, death and resurrection “saved” us from our sins? How are we to think about other world religions, given the claims of the Catholic Church about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ’s role in the salvation of all of human history?

Through this unique series, you will discover extraordinary answers to these questions and others from scripture and 2,000 years of tradition. This series will address the fundamental issues of our faith in a directly relevant way.

It is utterly astonishing that an unschooled peasant from a town in an insignificant portion of Israel who, at the most, was publicly active for three short years became arguably the single most important individual who has ever belonged to the human race. Today, approximately 2.1 billion human beings who call themselves Christians profess faith in that man, Jesus Christ. The impact of the movement He initiated is incalculable.

What was He trying to accomplish through His preaching and healing? Why was He perceived by some others as a terrible threat and executed? What sense can people in today’s age make of talk of Jesus being not resuscitated but resurrected?

What You Will Learn

Through this series of lectures, you will explore the development of our understanding about the meaning of Jesus Christ. This area of theology, called Christology, forms a central place in the more general area of theological thought called “systematic theology.”

You will trace Christian thinking of Jesus Christ from the days of his ministry in first-century Palestine through the early church, and through the medieval, reformation and modern periods. You will consider the major pressing issues in Christology in our own time. Particular attention will be given to Roman Catholic developments, but Eastern Orthodox and Protestant perspectives will also be included.

Jesus as Human and Divine

You will consider the religious experiences of the earliest communities which generated enormous claims about this Jesus (“Messiah,” “Son of God,” “Word of God”) and the controversies that arose about Him and His activity as Christians labored to make sense of those religious experiences.

People of the Christian faith profess that Jesus is fully human, and fully divine, while distinguishing Him from God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus, Christians affirm, was one personal reality, webbed into the whole human race, the planet earth, and the entire cosmos. Explore what this means.

Fr. Brian McDermott, S.J. is a Catholic priest and a member of the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus. He is currently the Rector of the Jesuit Community of Loyola College in Maryland, Research Professor in the Department of Theology and Affiliate Professor in the Department of Pastoral Counseling. He received his doctorate in systematic theology from the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in 1973. From 1973 to 2000, he was a member of the faculty of Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, MA, one of the two national theological centers sponsored by the Society of Jesus for the training of Jesuits, other religious and lay persons for ministry in the Church.. While at Weston, he taught systematic theology, Ignatian spirituality and authority and leadership. For eight years (1991-1999) was academic dean at the school. Fr. McDermott is the author of two books, What are They Saying About the Grace of Christ? and Word Become Flesh: Dimensions of Christology as well as numerous articles and reviews.

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1. What is Christology All About?

2. The Jesus Known by History and Faith

3. Jesus’ Ministry: Fundamental Outlines

4. Jesus’ Death: Historical Context

5. Jesus’ Death: Theological Perspective

6. Jesus’ Resurrection: Historical Reflections

7. Jesus’ Resurrection: Theological Reflections

8. Early Convictions about Jesus Christ’s Divinity

9. Jesus Christ’s Humanity

10. Personal Unity of Jesus Christ

11. Personal Unity of Jesus Christ, Part 2

12. Jesus Christ as Savior: Early and Medieval Church Perspective

13. Jesus Christ as Savior: Contemporary Church Perspective

14. A Cosmic Perspective

15. Christology and the Ecological Crisis

16. Christ and Other World Religions

17. Christ and Other World Religions, Part 2

18. The Future of Christology

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